


She Waits Her Turn, She Waits Her Time

by liketogetlost



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-09
Updated: 2011-06-09
Packaged: 2017-10-20 06:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketogetlost/pseuds/liketogetlost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If he's taught her anything it's that everything changes, people adapt and grow and all across the galaxy, suns set and moons sit high above the clouds keeping watch on the quiet planets below. Life is ever changing, but one thing remains. They always run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Waits Her Turn, She Waits Her Time

And it's the perfect fit of his hand to hers, fingers weaved together, palm to palm, that lets her know it's time to -

 _”Run!” Her body jumps, startled at the sudden deep rumble of a voice beside her. She takes the hand he offers without thinking, without doubting, because that's what she's supposed to do._

And now, after everything, there's still the constant of the running. If he's taught her anything it's that everything changes, people adapt and grow and all across the galaxy, suns set and moons sit high above the clouds keeping watch on the quiet planets below. Life is ever changing, but one thing remains. They always run.

She grips his hand tighter, holding onto him, onto that first spark of energy that hits her when she hears him yell that magic word. Hair swept into her face by the wind as beads of sweat are already collecting on her lower spine. She winces against the familiar burn in her thighs as her feet hit the ground _again, again, again_.

For almost twenty years she did nothing with her life. Her body was as stagnant as it could be, and yet now, she hasn't stopped moving since -

 _”You could come with me.”_

And after she lost him she still never slowed down. Couldn't, wouldn't. Her mother begged her to, but it wasn't something she could even fathom doing. Sitting and watching telly, going on holiday. How could she waste the fleeting moments of her life while he was out there, reliving moments that were long gone (moments he had lived with her?), making the most out of everything because he could. And so could she. Never settling for too long, she poured her soul into her job and into finding him again. It's what he would have done.

But then to think how each step brought her closer to the life she's living now. How everything led up to this moment, and how that moment would lead to the next, and so on and so on until she reached a sort of infinity of _run, run, run_.

Somewhere out there, at any given moment, Rose Tyler was running towards her destiny. Whether she was alongside a dark figure in leather or a flash of brown coat echoing laughter behind him like exhaust, she was always heading towards something. Hundreds of days of chasing herself down, millions of moments of running, a dozen plus Rose Tylers all constantly moving and she wonders. Wonders if she never stops moving will she eventually crash into herself.

 _”You were fantastic.”_

 _“Rose Tyler, I -”_

 _“I love you.”_

From day to day, she wakes up and she almost doesn't recognize herself. She wonders if she's regenerated as well. Nothing is constant, nothing, and neither is she.

It occurs to her that any small difference could have changed it all. What if she had turned that corner instead of that one, or if she hadn't of left the house late that one morning. Would she be holding his hand now or would she still be alone, jumping through never ending blackness between universes just for the chance to keep going. Keep running, only -

 _”Better with two.” Wants him to believe it, know she wants to be here for him. It must be terribly lonely doing everything by yourself._

Or. Always a question. _Maybe, if, what, how._ Maybe she wouldn't be here, again. Maybe she'd be floating through an endless journey inside a blue box with the man she'd first fallen in love with. The man who'd changed his face but hadn't changed his heart. (Hearts.) Some people get married and hate each other after ten years. The one she loved could die and come back, born with this love for her that would be passed on until he took his proper last breath.

She'd lived through days before her time, survived disasters she never should have lived through. Time was impossible, and so was he. And so, even though she knows that even the smallest change of thought could have moved her into a different path, who is she to question where she's ended up.

Nothing is constant, and yet. This is. The ever present string of their arms, swinging wildly as they move forward. Never looking back, always full speed ahead, facing their future. Whether it's now, making the most of their lives, their _life_ , together, or it's another time, another place or another galaxy. The Doctor and Rose are infinitely running towards something.

Her eyes close and she lets him guide her, letting her nails dig into his skin because she knows she's safe. Knows he'll always be right next to her. The ground is hard beneath their feet and the sky is limitless above their heads, and yet they don't float off into space. What brought her to this point, which path, which journey? How did she end up losing him twice and yet being given the chance to live this precious life with him?

He's laughing against her neck when they stop. She can smell the sweat from his pores and it's sweet in her nostrils, a familiar scent that's so very him. It carries his years, his lives, and each of his steps that brought him to her, and she inhales them all into her lungs as she wraps her arms around him, pressing him close. Holding on tight as the running catches up to her and she feels dizzy off adrenaline and his touch.

 _”The stuff of legend.” It's silly, something out of a fairytale. And yet she smiles, because he's right, in a way. She feels like a princess living in a fantasy world._

And she wonders what would happen if she stopped. Always moving, always running, would the legend end if she stayed in one spot for too long? Or would she finally catch up to herself? Second glance a glimpse of blond hair and blue wood ahead, or reflected in a shop window somewhere. Which Rose Tyler would she meet then?

She opens her mouth to ask him but he covers it with a kiss. It makes her forget to care about these things, and then they're off again. Some things never change.

And they are, a legend. Even once this life they're living has run it's course, they will remain as random moments sewn through time. The Doctor and Rose, still running, an everliving legend, a constant, immortal. Impossible, and yet.


End file.
